Naveen Patnaik To Build Next Generation Leaders In BJD?

The 79-year-old ex-CM of Odisha and chief of the Biju Janta Dal is desperately trying to find a trusted leader to lead the party in the future, as he is not keeping good health, a source says. This time, when the party workers are demoralised due to defeat in the last Assembly elections, one dynamic, intelligent and dedicated leader can only rejuvenate the party, he feels, the source says.

The wife of one-time most trusted hand of the then CM, Sujata Raut, Ex IAS, the dedicated officer to lead the most important program,’ Mission Shakti’ of the then CM, is probably the frontrunner in the race. She is originally from Odisha, and her husband, V K Pandian, Ex IAS, a Tamil, due to her posting in the state, got him posted in Odisha and became the most powerful bureaucrat in the state, according to the source. Pandian, though very close to the then  CM, also started interfering in the running of the BJD, and the local senior leaders never accepted him being an outsider and still blame him for the debacle of the party, the source says. Perhaps sensing the mood of the party worker, the BJD chief has sidelined him and brought his wife, Sunata, a local, to the forefront, the source says.